The imposition of the so-called "state of exception" suspends the civil rights of the citizens of the state in which it is imposed. In the past we have known many instances of the state of exception, for example in Nazi Germany or under the Latin American dictatorships of the 1970s. In recent years the term has gained renewed currency through books by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, and Giorgio Agamben.

In this talkCornelia Graebnerinvestigates the concept of the "state of exception" and its potential for cultural analysis through a reading of Latin American poetry. Poetry is generally considered to be the literary genre that most depends upon a performance of the author's subjectivity. How, then, does subjectivity manifest itself in poetry in a situation in which the author as a social and political being no longer matters?

The analysis of poetry from the Southern Cone and Mayan territories leads to a meta-theoretical enquiry into the use of the "state of exception" by the authors mentioned above.

Cornelia Graebner is Lecturer in Hispanic Studies. She wrote her dissertation on politically committed performance poetry. Her publications include articles on performance poetry, contemporary popular music, and critical theory. Her most recent research focuses on the impact of neoliberalism on cultural, social and political imaginaries. She is a member of the network "Poetics of Resistance".